Idaho
Idaho death row inmate nearing execution wants a new clemency hearing. The last one ended in a tie – Local News 8
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho man scheduled to be executed at the end of the month is asking a federal court to put his lethal injection on hold and order a new clemency hearing after the previous one resulted in a tie vote.
Thomas Eugene Creech is Idaho’s longest-serving death row inmate. He was already serving time after being convicted of killing two people in Valley County in 1974 when he was sentenced to die for beating a fellow inmate to death with a sock full of batteries in 1981.
Last month the state’s parole board voted 3-3 on Creech’s request to have his sentence changed to life without parole after one of is members recused himself from the case. Under state rules, a majority of the board must vote in favor of clemency for that recommendation to be sent to the governor.
But even that is no guarantee: The state also allows the governor to overrule clemency recommendations, and Gov. Brad Little said last week that he has “zero intention of taking any action that would halt or delay Creech’s execution.”
“Thomas Creech is a convicted serial killer responsible for acts of extreme violence,” Little said in a statement, later continuing, “His lawful and just sentence must be carried out as ordered by the court. Justice has been delayed long enough.”
During his clemency hearing, Ada County deputy prosecutor Jill Longhurst characterized Creech as a sociopath with no regard for human life. She noted his long criminal record, which also includes murder convictions in Oregon and in California. Yet another murder indictment in Oregon was dropped by prosecutors because he had already been given four life sentences there.
At times, Creech has claimed to have killed several more.
“The facts underlying this case could not be more chilling,” then-U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote in a 1993 opinion, upholding an Idaho law about when defendants can be sentenced to death. The ruling came after Creech appealed his sentence, arguing that the statute was unconstitutionally vague.
“Thomas Creech has admitted to killing or participating in the killing of at least 26 people,” O’Connor continued. “The bodies of 11 of his victims — who were shot, stabbed, beaten, or strangled to death — have been recovered in seven states.”
Creech’s defense attorneys say that the number of killings tied to him is highly exaggerated and that Creech, 73, has changed during his decades behind bars.
Creech has had a positive influence on younger inmates and went 28 years without a single disciplinary offense before being written up once in 2022 for a “misunderstanding over a card game,” lawyer Jonah Horwitz with the Idaho Federal Defenders Office said during his clemency hearing.
Creech has drawn support in his commutation request from some seemingly unlikely sources, including a former prison nurse, a former prosecutor and the judge who sentenced him death.
Judge Robert Newhouse told a clemency board last year that no purpose would be served by executing Creech after 40 years on death row. Doing so now would just be an act of vengeance, he said in a petition.
In their federal appeal seeking a new clemency hearing, Creech’s defense attorneys say having one board member absent from the decision put their client at an unfair disadvantage. Normally an inmate would have to convince a simple majority to get a clemency recommendation, but with one person missing, that became two-thirds of the board, his attorneys noted.
Either another board member should have stepped aside to avoid a tie vote or someone else should have been appointed to fill the seventh seat, they said.
Creech also has two appeals on other issues pending before the Idaho Supreme Court and has appealed another case to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Idaho
Gov. Little signs bill ending license plate registration stickers in Idaho
Gov. Brad Little has signed House Bill 533, which would remove the need for license plate stickers on Idaho vehicles.
The legislation, introduced earlier this session by Rep. Jon Weber (R) of Boise, eliminates the requirement for registration stickers on Idaho license plates. Weber stated during the bills intorduction that officers can verify the status of license plates without the stickers, potentially saving the state around $300,000.
During the bill’s introduction, some lawmakers argued that it could increase the workload for law enforcement.
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The new law is set to take effect in July.
Idaho
Idaho resolution opposing same-sex marriage advances
For the second year in a row, House lawmakers will consider urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The nonbinding resolution, which carries no legal weight, says the decision in Obergefel v. Hodges violates the longstanding religious definition of marriage between one man and one woman.
“The current definition of marriage that allows for same-sex marriages is a defilement of the word marriage,” said Rep. Tony Wisniewski (R-Post Falls), who sponsors the measure.
The resolution further states that the Obergefel decision “arbitrarily and unjustly” rejects the historical definition of marriage.
Idaho voters passed a constitution amendment in 2006 that defines marriage as between one man and one woman, which was invalidated by the Obergefel ruling.
Wisniewski said regulating marriages should be a power left to the states.
Rep. Brent Crane (R-Nampa) agrees.
“If you want to get things … closer to the people with respect to some of these more complex social issues, I think the best place for those things to happen is in the states,” Crane said.
Doing so is a risk, he said.
“You may have states that choose to acknowledge [polyamorous relationships]. You may have states that choose to have relationships between adults and younger children,” Crane said.
Cities in neighboring Oregon and Washington, for example, are considering giving those in polyamorous relationships legal recognition.
But he said that risk is worth it to allow other states that choose to only recognize traditional marriages.
Four lawmakers on the House State Affairs Committee opposed the resolution.
Rep. Erin Bingham (R-Idaho Falls) said she’s tried to balance her own religious beliefs with those of others while considering the measure.
“I do feel like that it is important for us to work together, to find ways to compromise and to live together in peace and mutual respect,” Bingham said.
The resolution now goes to the House floor for consideration.
House lawmakers last year passed a similar measure, but it never received a hearing in a Senate committee.
Copyright 2026 Boise State Public Radio
Idaho
University of Idaho professor awarded $10M after TikTok tarot influencer claimed she ‘ordered’ quadruple murders
A University of Idaho professor won a $10 million judgment after a tarot TikTok influencer publicly pushed false claims that she was behind the savage quadruple slayings of four college students.
A Boise jury in US District Court ordered fortune-telling Texas TikToker Ashley Guillard on Friday to pay $10 million after concluding she falsely accused professor Rebecca Scofield of having a secret romance with one of the four victims and orchestrating their killings, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Following the verdict, Scofield thanked the jury and said she hopes the case sends a clear warning that making “false statements online have consequences in the real world.”
“The murders of the four students on November 13, 2022, were the darkest chapter in our university’s history,” Scofield told Fox News.
“Today’s decision shows that respect and care should always be granted to victims during these tragedies. I am hopeful that this difficult chapter in my life is over, and I can return to a more normal life with my family and the wonderful Moscow community.”
Scofield, the university’s history department chair, filed the lawsuit in December 2022 — just weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death at an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.
Guillard began uploading videos to her more than 100,000 TikTok followers in late November 2022, accusing Scofield of a secret relationship with one of the students and claiming she had “ordered” the killings, garnering millions of views across the social media platform.
The complaint states that Scofield had never met the victims and was out of state when the murders occurred.
Even after being served with cease-and-desist letters and after police publicly confirmed Scofield had no connection to the murders, the Houston-based tarot reader continued posting videos, the history professor’s legal team argued.
Guillard doubled down on her accusations against Scofield after being sued, posting a defiant video saying, “I am not stopping,” and challenging why Scofield needed three lawyers to sue her “if she’s so innocent.”
The professor’s legal team argued the defamatory accusations painted her as a criminal and accused her of professional misconduct that could derail her career.
Bryan Kohberger, then studying criminology at Washington State University, pleaded guilty in July 2025 to the quadruple murders in a deal that took the death penalty off the table. He is currently serving four consecutive life sentences in Idaho.
In June 2024, Chief US Magistrate Judge Raymond Patricco found Guillard’s statements legally defamatory, leaving damages to be decided by a jury.
During the damages trial, Scofield described the anguish of seeing her name tied to the murders online, the Idaho Statesman reported.
However, Guillard, acting as her own attorney, insisted her comments were simply beliefs based on tarot card readings.
She claimed to have psychic powers and testified that she relied on tarot cards to try to solve the shocking homicides that shook the rural college town and sparked global attention.
It took jurors less than two hours to return their verdict, the outlet reported.
The jury awarded Scofield $7.5 million in punitive damages in addition to $2.5 million in compensatory damages.
With Post wires
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